More reader feedback on the federal shutdown

More reader feedback on the federal shutdown

Our U.S. Representative, Patrick McHenry, has on his "bio page" the following information: "In the 113th Congress, McHenry serves as a Deputy Republican Whip, helping to manage the legislative priorities of Congressional Republicans on the House floor."

The U.S. Senate has passed a bill to keep the government running until Nov. 15. It is assumed that most in the House, of which McHenry is a member, would go along with such a bill.

If Rep. McHenry "manages the legislative priorities of Congressional Republicans" then why is he not putting forward for a vote the Senate's bill in order to diminish the impact of this government shutdown, which he otherwise indicates he is powerless to affect on his web page?

Marsha V. Hammond, PhD, Asheville

Every poll shows that 80-90 percent of Americans are in favor of stronger background checks on gun sales. Yet the bill sponsored for that purpose by Sens. Manchin and Toomey failed. Can you imagine the conservative outrage if the Democrats had attached the Manchin-Toomey amendment to the continuing resolution (CR)? It's a completely separate issue, how could anyone imagine tying the two together? It would be extortion. But somehow, it makes sense to shut down the government by insisting that the CR defund Obamacare, a law passed by the Congress, signed by the President, and found constitutional by the Supreme Court. Our conservative friends think this makes perfect sense, even as John McCain tweets a link to a poll that shows 72 percent of Americans don't want the government shut down over this issue. As if that's not cynical and intellectually dishonest enough, Republicans think they'll improve their position politically by presenting the Senate with a bill to fund NIH so that a handful of cancer patients can receive experimental treatment. This is part of a political stunt aimed at denying health care to millions, including tens of thousands of cancer patients whose lives could be saved by proven treatments.

Harry Pierson, Asheville

What are these rich demons who would cut food stamps by $40 billion, shut down the government serving mostly the poor, elderly, disabled, and their pitiful innocent children, in order to drive a stake through the heart of our nation and remake it into a black hole they envision as eliminating hunger, disease, poverty, and all the ills of mankind? Remember jobs? There are none.

They are driven by gerrymandered districts, like ours, with fools, malcontents, and the selfish rich who give them the votes and economic support to allow them to wreak havoc on many of their own who, in keeping with the lunacy of many sociopaths, would destroy themselves in order to make others suffer. There are lots of Timothy McVeighs out there. Yes, the evil of malcontents, like those in Charles Frazier's "Cold Mountain,'' are now bringing our great country to its knees and none of us even know which of the right wing ideologue think tanks is giving them their marching orders. It's certainly not the right wing little guys who think he's got good on the run. Sen. Cruz is smart and evil, but it's not him alone. My guess is the Koch Brothers.

George Clark, Asheville

Let's say a child wants his parents to let him stay up until 11 p.m. each night, and they say, "No, your bedtime is 8:30." He then says, "I'm going to break something in the house every day until I get to stay up late," and he smashes an expensive lamp. On the second day, he says, "Okay, 10:30," the answer is still no, and he takes a hammer to the dishes. Still the parents don't relent. This goes on for days. Finally, he says, "You are disrespecting me. You won't even negotiate. I've got to have some reward for all this stuff I broke." What should the parents do?

Jeffrey Hutchins, Black Mountain

Once again the AC-T is full of liberal garbage opposing the GOP's shutdown of the government. Don't you realize there are dozens, if not hundreds, of people in WNC who believe that poor people deserve to die if they get sick? How else will we reduce poverty?

John Mycroft, Asheville

It's easy to play the blame game now that the government has shut itself down. We can blame the Republicans, the Democrats, the Tea Party, the President. We can blame our system of government. But the true blame rests with We The People. We elected those Republicans, those Democrats, those Tea Party representatives, and the president to run our country and represent our views. But when did our views become my views? When did we shift our focus from We The People - we Americans - to me and my ideological counterparts?

To the writer who tells us that nothing has changed for him since the shutdown occurred, I would say, "Lucky you." And then I would ask him to look around at his fellow Americans... government workers who have lost their paychecks, small business owners who rely on the income derived from the operation of the national parks and monuments, families who will no longer receive the food (Head Start) and health support (NIH and CDC) due to the shutdown, home buyers unable to get home loans (FHA mortgages). Look at the debt being incurred by the nation ($300M per day); then say all that doesn't matter because you received your mail today.

Larry Rohan, Asheville

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More reader feedback on the federal shutdown

Our U.S. Representative, Patrick McHenry, has on his 'bio page' the following information: 'In the 113th Congress, McHenry serves as a Deputy Republican Whip, helping to manage the legislative